News Releases

News Releases

(Louisville, Kentucky) Matthew Scott, the nation's first hand transplant recipient, is in Louisville for a series of evaluations and tests at Jewish Hospital and Kleinert, Kutz and Associates Hand Care Center, January 25-29. Scott received his new left hand January 24-25, 1999, when surgeons from the University of Louisville and Kleinert, Kutz and Associates Hand Care Center, PLLC, performed the 15-hour procedure at Jewish Hospital. To mark that historical transplant procedure, Scott and his wife, Dawn, were joined by members of the transplant team to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the event during a "welcome home" party at Jewish Hospital. Team members attending included physicians, researchers, nurses, therapists, immunologists and others involved in the planning, research, surgery, and care of Scott. Included in the physicians were the hand transplant team's lead hand surgeon, Warren C. Breidenbach, III, M.D., Kleinert, Kutz and Associates Hand Care Center, PLLC and assistant clinical professor of Surgery at University of Louisville. Jon W. Jones, Jr., M.D., assistant professor of Surgery at U of L; John H. Barker, M.D., PhD., associate professor of Surgery and director of Plastic Surgery Research at U of L; and Gordon R. Tobin, II, M.D., professor of Surgery and chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at U of L, also attended the party. While in Louisville, Scott is scheduled to receive physical therapy and orthotics assessments, undertake a motion analysis, provide biopsy and receive a comprehensive review session with numerous physicians. The hand transplant team is prepared to perform another transplant and currently has a candidate listed with Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates. The hand transplant program was developed by a partnership of physicians and researchers at Jewish Hospital, the University of Louisville, and Kleinert, Kutz and Associates Hand Care Center, PLLC. A press conference is scheduled for Friday, January 28 at 10 a.m. (EST). Details to follow.